Wednesday, November 14, 2012

schoolroom hook rack {anthro knockoff}

I was browsing anthropologie for wedding registry items and dream-home furnishings and came across the schoolroom hook rack. I thought it would be the perfect 'storage' solution for our jackets and coats, because right now they end up hanging on the dining room chairs. The only problem - it's selling for $88!

After examining all the pictures, I decided that I could my own version to exactly fit the space I had in mind. I headed to the hardware store to pick up the supplies. Here is what I used to make my rack:
· two 8 foot long 3/4 x 3/4 inch unfinished pine trim boards - $4.69 each
· six 8 x 2.5 steel wood screws - $.24 each
· four coat/hat hooks - about $3 to $4 each
· two picture hangers with teeth - $.40 each
· brown paint/stain - free {hand on hand}
TOTAL: $25.62 {before tax}
SAVINGS: $62.38 {before tax}

I apologize for not providing step-by-step pictures. It was a gloomy day and I had horrible lighting. If you have a question about the process, please comment or email me and I'll further explain.

I had the friendly guy at Lowe's cut the trim for me. I told him to cut one piece in 32-ish inch sections and the other in 31-ish inch sections. I specifically said "I don't want them to be perfect, so a quarter of an inch one way or the other is great." He did exactly as I asked. :)

When I got them home, I sanded down the edges and mixed up a paint-stain. That's a technical term. :) I used acyrlic paint and little water to stain my wood. I had the brown paint on hand and I didn't want to spend money on a stain that I might not use again. I used a brush to spread a layer of paint on, then a damp paper towel to even it out and create more of a stain-like quality.

Once all the pieces were paint-stained and dried, I stacked them on top of each other in a length - staggered order that I liked and I used painters tape to keep them all together. I drilled three pilot holes across the top and three across the bottom, one on each end and one in the center.

I used screws that were long enough to go through three and a half boards, so I made sure that the pilot holes were off-set so the screws wouldn't bump in the middle. Then I used a drill bit the size of the head of the screw to make a little divot so the screw sat flush against the wood.

Once the base was all screwed together, I measured and marked where my hooks would go. I drilled more pilot holes and then screwed each hook to the board. You may need to use different screws than the ones that came with the hooks - mine were too long and would have stuck out the back.

I used four different hooks because I liked that about the anthro version. I got the three plain black ones at Lowe's and the one with the ceramic details at hobby lobby. As the final touch - my screws were silver, so I painted them black or
brown, depending on where they were screwed into, to help them blend in.

It was pretty simple, I completed it in an afternoon - most of that was drying time!